I watched Passengers last night. Not as terrible as I had been led to believe, but not great either. Pratt and Lawrence have ok chemistry, but the entire setup asks questions that the film struggles to answer in a satisfying way. Plus, things take quite a left-turn in the final act and it becomes quite a different sort of movie. When , I found all of his scenes really unintentionally amusing for some reason. It’s not a terrible performance, it just feels like that section throws the film off-balance and it never quite recovers.

And they didn’t even use the soundtrack that U2 and Pavarotti recorded 22 years in advance. Bastards!

Duel is a 1971 television (and later full-length theatrical) thriller film written by Richard Matheson, which is based on his own short story. The film is the full-length film directing debut of American director, producer, and screenwriter Steven Spielberg. Duel stars Dennis Weaver who portrays a terrified motorist driving a Plymouth Valiant who is stalked upon remote and lonely California canyon roads by the mostly unseen driver of an unkempt 1955 Peterbilt 281 tanker truck.

As I’ve mentioned before, Bates Motel has been getting a lot of strong praise in Starburst magazine.

The recent issue had an article on it and Paul Mounts column also covered it. Both praised it so highly that I have been thinking about watching it a lot over the last couple of weeks since reading these articles.

This is despite having zero interest in the subject or concept. I had like literally no interest in watching it whatsoever.

Last night I put it on because I was in the mood for something outside my usual comfort zone or general zone of interest.
I ended up watching 3 episodes back to back, which very rarely happens these days without me falling asleep. So it was a late night and I’m knackered today.

It was totally worth it.

I’m hooked. The acting is great, it’s really well paced, it’s filled with intrigue but not in the drip fed way we get with a lot of tv nowadays where you have no fucking idea what is going on. It doesn’t try to be too clever, just really well written straight forward story telling and brilliant characters.

This has turned out a bit of a hidden gem for me - I just hope I don’t get dragged into another 3 episodes tonight when I go to bed and watch it, I need some sleep man.

Let me know how you get on. I’ve been very pleasantly surprised at it. I didn’t think it would hold my attention at all, it’s done quite the opposite, totally on the edge of my seat.
There’s not much filler, it’s either story, suspense or character - very leanly written.

I subscribed to Sky for two months, as they had a special Game of Thrones subscription that only costs 2 bucks for two months. I’ll quit at the end of that. But while I’m on there, I theoretically have a lot more stuff that I could watch, including The Leftovers.

I doubt I’ll find the time though. Given how I’m travelling half of that time.

I’ve been watching more of GLOW on Netflix. After enjoying the pilot, it took me a while to get back to it, but I’m glad I did. It’s quietly quite funny, fairly sweet in places and also nicely sympathetic to its source material (well, pro wrestling at least, I don’t know what liberties it’s taking with GLOW itself).

Also, it used a track off the Transformers: The Movie soundtrack and not even the obvious one. So yeah, instant respect for that.

Today on clearing up things on Netflix: Gilmore Girls: A Year In The Life or whatever it’s called.

I thought this was pretty good really, for what was essentially an exercise in nostalgia for a show that doesn’t really feel like it ended that long ago. I swear the only cast member who looks like they’ve aged in the past ten (!) years is the guy playing Jess (maybe Lane’s husband too).

One of the problems I had with the Veronica Mars movie, which fell into the same category as this, is that it tried too hard to bring back anyone and everyone who was in the original series and ended up being a checklist of cameos. Here though, halfway into the final episode, I found myself disappointed at the prospect of Jared Padalecki and Melissa McCarthy not turning up. Spoilers: they do. I think the series does well in juggling its cast of returning characters and working around the schedules of those actors. And it does well with new things. Emily’s story continually surprised me and took the character in interesting directions.

As for the final moment I’ve not bothered to think too hard about the timeline, but I would love it if the father of Rory’s child is the random Wookie guy she weirdly had a one night stand with rather than Logan. It is clearly Logan though and I had thought about, when Rory went to see her father, the similarities between him and Christopher (without managing to guess the reason for her questions), right down to always calling Rory by a patronising nickname.

Total Recall (remake) - This movie is terrible. Boring, inelegant and unsubtle. The references and callbacks to the original film are all hamfisted and painful. I have no idea what kind of accent Farrell was aiming for. I have no idea why Beckingsale’s character is a sociopath. I have no idea why Cranston agree to be in this movie, especially since he’s completely wasted and doesn’t even show up until the film is half over. Just an utter waste of time.

Better Watch Out - This on the other hand was very enjoyable. It’s best to go into this horror comedy blind. I had heard some hints about the plot but luckily my expectations based on those hints were wrong. It’s hard to say much without spoiling it but it’s best described as a mash up between Christmas comedies, like Home Alone and Christmas Vacation, and horror. All the actors do a fine job, particularly the two leads, who really transform during the film. Definitely worth checking out when it gets wide release.

I’ve just watched Down Terrace, the first feature film directed by Ben Wheatley. I didn’t quite get it at first, but it gripped me pretty well as it got into things. The story seems to twist in tone and genre, ending up with a similar effect to Kill List (which is a superior film for sure) though the content is mostly different.
It might be Wheatley’s weakest movie, but Sightseers is probably my least favourite. I still have High-Rise to watch though. Hopefully it’s good enough to tide me over until Free Fire hits blu-ray and I can just watch that again.